City eyes improved cycling network

TEMECULA - A group of cyclists is asking the city to be more
vigilant in maintaining and policing bicycle lanes, a request that
has drawn tentative support from at least one City Council
member.

Riders put several options Monday evening before the Temecula
Community Services Commission, which could present a formal set of
recommendations to the City Council. A similar hearing is expected
before the city's Traffic Safety Commission later this month.

Councilman Chuck Washington said he asked for Monday night's
review after hearing from constituents who voiced concerns for
their safety on increasingly crowded roads.

"I've had the same sense," Washington said. "There's sort of a …
lack of safety, perhaps due to unawareness of the law or lack of
concern toward bike riders."

Though both Temecula and Murrieta have plans for increasingly
sophisticated networks of bike routes, more than a dozen Southwest
County cyclists have said the area is much less hospitable toward
them than San Diego County, where a clear day can fill the coastal
highway and other routes with thousands of cyclists. The owner of
one Murrieta bike shop said last month that he's continually
shocked at the number of drivers and passengers clipping by him
with just inches to spare, and occasionally hurling trash out the
window at him.

"It doesn't feel safe to take my family on the streets in
Temecula," Katie Bradley told the Community Services Commission on
Monday.

"Temecula, among many cities where I've ridden in Southern
California, is not a bike-friendly city," said Sean Scott, a
competitive cyclist with shaved legs and a yellow rubber
bracelet.

One problem, according to Washington and several people at the
hearing, is that cars frequently treat bike lanes as turn lanes,
often bypassing stopped traffic by driving on a bike lane for more
than the legally allowed 200 feet. Washington said he's not sure
how aggressively such laws are being enforced; hence the need to
involve the Traffic Safety Commission.

Washington said he foresees the city possibly creating several
new bike paths. Another possible option might be to improve the
quality of existing lanes. Cyclists said some bike lanes are so
littered with gravel, glass shards and metal shavings that they're
forced into the lanes for motorized vehicles.

City officials cited a 2002 master plan for current and future
development of bicycle lanes and trails. Roughly 11 miles of bike
lanes and trails have been built or striped, a relatively small
fraction of what's to come, they said.

With its estimated $14 million cost, the network isn't something
to be built in a single year, Community Services Director Herman
Parker said.

Some problems, such as litter in bike lanes, can be corrected at
minimal expense if riders report the dangerous stretches of road,
commissioners said.

"I think we've done a better job on the planning end than we've
done on the execution, the maintenance end," Commissioner Tom
Edwards said.